Button-setting instrument.



J. F. THAYER.

BUTTON SETTING INSTRUMENT.

Patented Dec. 7, 1909.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 23, 1909.

nnrrnn STATES PATEN are.

JAMES F. THAYER, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND,

ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO HEATON-PENINSULAR BUTTON FASTENERCOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

BUTTON-SETTING INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. *7, 1909.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. THAYER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inbitten-Setting Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hand-instruments employed for attaching thewellknown type of Heaton, or three-pronged metallic button-fasteners toshoes, &c., and it consists in the novel features of constructionhereinafter set forth and claimed.

In instruments of the character referred to the two movable main membersthereof are usually halved together at the pivot or joint portions andconnected by means of a central screw or rivet mounted transverselytherein. As thus constructed the aw and handle portions of each mainmember are substantially uniform in thickness throughout its length,except that at the joint portion the stock is milled off or counterboredthrough one-half of the thickness to receive the correspondingly milledfellow member; the two members when pivoted together having their outerfaces flush with each other on the two respective sides of theimplement. As thus formerly devised the instrument, usually made ofmalleable cast iron and surface hardened, is materially weakened by thecutting away of the stock contiguous to the joint, because the machiningoperation removes the corresponding surface or skin which is thestronger part of the metal; consequently the handles are liable to, andin fact do, break at the counterbored part of the joint when in use.

The objects I have in view are to simplify and strengthen theinstrument, while at the same time reducing its weight and cost ofmanufacture. To these ends the two main members of the instrument arenot counterbored and halved together at the joint but have the adjacentfaces simply surfaced oii' true and fiat; each member having its handleand jaw portions extend longitudinally in opposite directions from saidjoint part and gradually increasing in thickness, the maximum thicknessbeing the same or substantially the same as analogous instruments ofthis character.

One of the members of my improved button-setting instrument has acomparatively large cylindrical shaped female centered true pin or studformed integral with and projecting at right angles from the center ofthe corresponding face of the joint, the other member being bored toreceive said pin without play. In assembling the members the pin ispassed through the central hole of the other member thus bringing thetwo faces of the joint together, a washer is then placed on the portionof the pin extending through the hole and the free end riveted or swagedover by suitable tools so as to bear against the washer, therebysecuring the members together under a suitable degree of frictionbetween the joints faces. This latter operation being facilitated by thepresence of the female or concave center formed in the pin.

In the accompanying drawing, which clearly illustrates my improvedbutton-setting instrument, Figure 1 represents a front side elevationthereof, the jaws being shown normally closed. Fig. 2 is a correspondingtop plan view. Fig. 3 is a corresponding inverted or bottom plan view.Figs. at and 5 represent in plan view the respective front and rearmembers before being connected together. Fig. 6 is a transverse section,in enlarged scale, taken on line 6 6 of Fig. l, and Fig. 7 is'a frontview showing a button and fastener held in the aws of the instrumentpreparatory to attaching them to a shoe or fabric.

The following is a more detailed description: In my improvedbutton-setting instrument the two handle members proper, a 5 are offsetlaterally in opposite directions from the center or pivot point and havethe adjacent faces 0 of the members at said point suitably machined offtrue and flat and in engagement with each other, as shown in Figs. 2 to6, inclusive. The arrangement of the parts is such that a straight linedrawn through the center of the two handles longitudinally will passthrough the faces 0 of the joint, the latter being in a vertical plane.

The portion of the handle b beyond the pivot (toward the left as drawn)forms the button-and-fastener holding jaw I), or upper jaw, and thecorresponding portion of the handle a forms the anvil or clenching diea, or lower jaw. In the bottom portion of tion sidewise.

the said upper jaw is formed a vertical transversely extending groove 6and a recess Z2 communicating therewith adapted to receive the eye-shankof a button 1" and a fastening g, substantially as usual. The upper faceof the anvil is provided with two parallel transversely arranged concavegrooves a disposed with respect to the said recess 6 I prefer to makethe top area or working surface of the die portion of the anvilconsiderably smaller than the corresponding part of the upper or fellowmember Z), whereby the lower jaw is adapted to be inserted into the shoewith greater facility while at the same time the leather or flexiblematerial to which the button is to be attached adjusts itself morereadily to the jaws face.

In order that the combined button and fastener may be snugly yetyieldingly retained in position in the jaw Z) of the front member Iemploy a bent flat spring 8 secured to the rear top part of the jaw by asmall screw. By bending one or both edges of the spring downward aroundthe corresponding corner of the jaw, as shown at 8 the spring ispositively maintained in posi- IVhen in use the front end of the springis depressed and bears against the underside of the button, as shown inFig. 7. In springs heretofore used for this purpose the free end portionthereof has been grooved so as to receive the eyeshank of the button; inthe drawing it will be observed that the spring is not grooved orslotted but is adapted to extend to or nearly to the eye-shank of thebutton while at the same time being in engagement with the underside ofthe buttons head. As thus devised the action of the free end portion ofthe spring, when in engagement with the button head, has a tendency toposition the connected button and fastener in the said groove 12 of theupper jaw and also at the same time to snugly press the oppositevertical side of the eye-shank against the outer edge of the groove,thereby preventing accidental lateral movement of the parts. This is amaterial advantage over springs of this general character having forkedor slotted ends. One of the said jaw-carrying handle members (the rearone a as drawn) is provided with an integrally formed laterallyextending stud or pin 7 located at the center of the corresponding jointface. The stud is one with the member a a and has the fellow member I) bmounted to swing thereon. The stud is turned off true and cylindrical,its outer end being centrally recessed or cup-shaped, see it, thusforming a circular outer rim. See Fig. 4. After the front member hasbeen mounted on the stud a washer to is placed on its projecting endfollowed by swaging or rolling the rim over to form a retaining head orshoulder 29 for maintaining the front member in position sidewise.

By means of the construction of the joint and piviot just described theimplement. is rendered stronger and stiffer and the jaws may be actuatedwith greater accuracy and with less power or friction, from the factthat the stud is rigid and solid with the jaw member itself and standsat exactly right angles or square with the joint-face 0.

I claim as my invention l. The combination in a button-settinginstrument, of a pair of oppositely disposed handle members pivotedtogether, forwardly extending upper and lower aw members integral withthe said handle part arranged respectively for temporarily holding a connected button and a pronged fastener and for bending the prongs of thelatter when the jaws are forced toward each other, a sheet-metal springmember secured to said upper jaw having its free or outer end portionconstructed to bear against the underside of a button and extend to ornearly to the adjacent vertical side of its shank or eye and not projecttherebeyond, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination in a button-setting instrument, of a pair ofoppositely disposed j aw-carrying handle members pivoted together andconstructed substantially as described, one of the members at said pivotpoint having a pintle integral therewith and passing transverselythrough the other handle member and terminating in a cup-shaped end, anda washer positioned upon the pin and bearing against the face of thefront handle member and held in place by bending the rim of the cuppedpart of the pintle both rearwardly and outwardly.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES F. THAYER.

WVitnesses Gno. H. REMINGTON, FRANKLIN A. SMITH.

